I liked this salad except for all the soggy pieces of fried fish. If only the fish had been served on top of the salad rather than tossed into it.

★★★☆☆

Overall:

We ordered the $29.50 per person Express Lunch Banquet which included an appetiser, 3 mains and steamed rice. The servings were surprisingly generous making this banquet option fantastic value for money. Although I’m not the biggest fan of their circular communal tables, I do like the atmosphere and I would definitely come back for the pork belly!

I recently had the pleasure of attending the launch of Morris Jones’ Moet & Chandon Champagne Lunch. Head Chef Matthew Butcher has previously worked under a number of world renowned chefs (ie. Gordon Ramsay, Shannon Bennett of Vue De Monde and Ryan Clift of Tippling Club in Singapore), so I was really looking forward to the his lunch menu creations. And I was not disappointed! Each dish was original, beautifully presented, and tasted incredible. I don’t think I could pick a favourite dish as I relished everything we sampled and would order it all again. However a special mention is needed for the salt and vinegar saltbush chips. Who would have thought that leaves could taste this awesome?!?! These unique chips are a must try!

Champagne lunches are now available at Morris Jones on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (2 courses for $35 and 3 courses for $45 which includes a glass of wine).

The word ‘sabai’ means comfortable or relaxed in Thai, and this restaurant is certainly a place where you can kick back, relax and enjoy lots of great contemporary Thai food. Authentic Thai cuisine is based on the fusion of five primary flavours: sweet, salty, sour, spicy and bitter. These flavours are combined to produce dishes of amazing intensity, and this was definitely the case for many of the dishes we sampled. The somtum in particular was like a flavour punch in the face! (but in a good way.) A place worth visiting for well balanced Thai food and friendly service.

The Grand Hotel in Richmond recently celebrated their 130th birthday and I was lucky enough to be invited along to take part in the festivities. The party started with drinks at the main bar and a quick glimpse at the Grand Dining Room. It is impressive to note that The Grand has been a winner of The Age Good Food Guide’s Chef Hat award nine times over the last decade, and is the only pub in Australia to consistently hold such a prestigious accolade. The Grand Dining Room is well known for their simple authentic Italian food which is served up by Michelin trained head chefs Federico Frigato and Mattia Aloisio.

After a while we were guided upstairs and encountered a smaller bar and three rooms. As we chatted, some enticing canapes came around. The first canape we sampled was cured ocean trout with citrus and berries, the second was poached veal tongue crostini with salsa verde and the third was tomato and basil bruschetta. All were very delicious!

We were soon led into the Nesso room and was informed that the kitchen was down a chef and that we had to make our own dinner!

So we each put on a T.Serafina apron, grabbed a rolling pin and began to roll out some clay.

We then each received a beautiful piece of fresh Cone Bay barramundi and were told to be as creative as we liked in terms of flavouring this fish dish. I decided to go with potatoes, cherry tomatoes, garlic, olives, braised leeks, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Head chef Mattia Aloisio then instructed us on how to wrap up our barramundi so that it could be baked for our dinner. This whole process was so much fun and I couldn’t wait to taste my creation! We were then led into the Como room which had been stunningly transformed by event stylist The Three Piece Suit with stationary styled by Lauren Skorsis. And it was here where the incredible feasting began!

This was the moment we had all been waiting for! We made good use of our rolling pins and had a blast smashing these little terracotta parcels open!

The result? Perfectly cooked barramundi that was delicate and moist, with a beautifully intense flavour. And as it turned out, the ingredients I added tasted fantastic in combination with the fish so I had a little bit of a ‘phew!’ moment after having my first bite.

Whet house chicken curry served with basmati rice, tomato and apple chutney and pappadums

Fiery curry that was packed full of flavour.

★★★★☆

Tempura battered local wild caught barramundi served with chips and house made tartare

Average fish with really good chips.

★★★☆☆

Chicken, avocado, rocket, tomato and bocconcini served on a freshly baked baguette with basil aioli and chips

Once again it was the chips that made this dish.

★★★☆☆

Overall:

Set amongst tropical Daintree rainforest, Whet has an earthy and natural vibe. Whet is in fact fully self-sustained with generated diesel power, a tertiary level sewerage and grey water treatment plant, plus they have their own private water supply and rubbish removal. Pretty impressive! Service was average but the food was enjoyable so I’m glad we stopped by.

Fresh colourful dishes that are designed to be shared, bustling atmosphere and efficient service. Rock Paper Scissors is another one of those places that don’t take bookings for dinner so unless you get there at 6pm, expect a wait. We went on a Wednesday night and waited for more than an hour to get a table. Was it worth the wait? Nah, not really.